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Featured CoronaVirus in Pakistan - Updates & Discussion
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CrazyZ
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Govt taking steps to enhance testing capacity for COVID-19: Zafar Mirza
Web Desk On Mar 31, 2020
ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr. Zafar Mirza on Tuesday said the government was taking measures to enhance testing capacity for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), ARY News reported.
Talking to journalists, Zafar Mirza said that the country’s COVID-19 testing capacity will be enhanced to 900,000 tests per day by April 15.
Taking notice of the behavior of police and administration with the COVID-19 patients, the special assistant urged them to be police with the people infected with the virus.
He maintained that total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country has soared to 1865.
These include 652 in Punjab, 627 in Sindh, 221 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 153 Balochistan, 148 Gilgit-Baltistan, Islamabad 58 and six in Azad Kashmir.
58 people have so far recovered from the disease whilst the number of deaths from the virus stands at 25, he added.
Read More: Zafar Mirza lauds China’s support in fight against COVID-19
Earlier on March 29, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr. Zafar Mirza had expressed gratitude to China for extending cooperation to Pakistan in the fight against COVID-19.
Briefing the team of Chinese doctors at the National Institute of Health in Islamabad, Zafar Mirza had said that Pakistan was highly impressed with the way the Chinese government dealt with Covid-19 by putting timely measures to contain the severity of the killer bug.
Web Desk On Mar 31, 2020
ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr. Zafar Mirza on Tuesday said the government was taking measures to enhance testing capacity for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), ARY News reported.
Talking to journalists, Zafar Mirza said that the country’s COVID-19 testing capacity will be enhanced to 900,000 tests per day by April 15.
Taking notice of the behavior of police and administration with the COVID-19 patients, the special assistant urged them to be police with the people infected with the virus.
He maintained that total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country has soared to 1865.
These include 652 in Punjab, 627 in Sindh, 221 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 153 Balochistan, 148 Gilgit-Baltistan, Islamabad 58 and six in Azad Kashmir.
58 people have so far recovered from the disease whilst the number of deaths from the virus stands at 25, he added.
Read More: Zafar Mirza lauds China’s support in fight against COVID-19
Earlier on March 29, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr. Zafar Mirza had expressed gratitude to China for extending cooperation to Pakistan in the fight against COVID-19.
Briefing the team of Chinese doctors at the National Institute of Health in Islamabad, Zafar Mirza had said that Pakistan was highly impressed with the way the Chinese government dealt with Covid-19 by putting timely measures to contain the severity of the killer bug.
This applies to most countries in the world. Pakistani officials already suspect that over 10,000 are infected. 25% of infected show no symptoms and 90% heal on their own. Strategy now is to lock down to slow the spread until most of the infected heal or go to the hospital. In time the outbreak will burn out. Pakistan has acted faster than many countries.
ghazi52
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The UK's newest, and largest, hospital facility is preparing to open its doors to take in coronavirus patients needing intensive care treatment.
East London's ExCeL exhibition centre, which normally plays host to lifestyle shows, expos and conferences, has been converted into the temporary NHS Nightingale hospital, with space for 4,000 beds.
LAHORE EXPO CENTER
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Pakistani Fighter
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Plasma donation by young coronavirus survivor seen as glimmer of hope for critical patients
Imran AyubUpdated April 03, 2020
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"The method is being used across the world for the treatment of critical patients." — AFP/File
KARACHI: As the number of coronavirus patients keeps rising, a hope to cope with the challenge emerged here on Thursday when the first person who was reported positive on Feb 26 in the country and recovered a couple of weeks ago donated his plasma for treatment of critically-affected people through passive immunisation.
Speaking at a press conference the recovered patient of coronavirus, Yahya Jaffery, his parents and renowned haematologist Dr Saqib Ansari sought the government’s permission to proceed with the use of plasma for the treatment of patients.
“We need no funds, no machinery or workforce as our own hospital is ready to offer its services free of cost,” said Dr Ansari. “The process of acquiring and processing of the plasma costs Rs20,000 each and the hospital is ready to bear the cost for the good of humanity. Currently our team is working on three fronts to handle the coronavirus pandemic: limit the outbreak, treatment of patients and control panic in society.”
He lauded young Mr Jaffery and called him a “hero of the nation” and also praised his parents for their courage and resolve against the pandemic. Talking about the recent advancement, he said that with several antibiotics and other therapies, the plasma of those recovered patients affected by the virus in the past was being used in several parts of the developed world.
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“Based on the latest study in Beijing in collaboration with the world’s leading research institutes, the plasma infusion in critical patients of coronavirus has yielded excellent results. The method is being used across the world for the treatment of critical patients of the disease and approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States, the World Health Organisation and other reputable institutions.”
‘The method is being used across the world for the treatment of critical patients’
He said his Children’s Hospital and Houston Methodist Hospital of the US were already collaborating with each other in that regard, and added that Dr Fazal Mahmood of the hospital in the US was in touch with Dr Ansari and both were closely monitoring the developments across the world regarding the virus.
The recovered Mr Jaffery also said that in the near future, the virus would become history and all that would be remembered was our resolve and determination.
“I advise people that please don’t get scared and panicked,” he said. “Please look at me. I suffered [from] this pandemic and recovered with the support of health workers, family and community. These three segments are key players to fight this pandemic. Please don’t treat patients as evil or criminal. They are among us and people like us. They need support of society and encouragement from the people.”
His parents thanked Dr Ansari and the health professionals along with society which helped them pass through this “traumatic experience”. They said that the family of Yahya was more worried due to a storm of false and fake news over different mediums though they never got worried about the health of their son, who had not felt any deterioration during those two weeks.
National cricketer Roman Rais also addressed the presser and assured Dr Ansari of his cooperation against the coronavirus. He hoped that the nation would defeat coronavirus the way it had met challenges in the past.
“As a national cricketer, I appeal to my fans and the nation to have patience, stay at home and stay safe. These are challenging times which demand unity and discipline under the motto [of] the founder of the nation,” he added.
Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2020
ejaz007
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https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries
Punjab may lose most jobs due to COVID-19: experts
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ISLAMABAD: Punjab could be the worst hit by pandemic Coronavirus among all the four provinces on account of losing jobs as in the worst case scenario, 10 to 12 million daily wagers might be laid-ff, the highest from the neglected agriculture sector.
This alarming assessment has been made by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), an affiliate arm of the Planning Commission of Pakistan here on Thursday. “Our analysis shows that in Punjab, 10 to 12 million of those who are vulnerably employed can face losing their jobs in Stages II and III (worst case scenario) respectively. The same numbers for Sindh are 3.3 to 4.1 million, and around two million for KP and under a million for Balochistan,” the latest estimates worked out by the PIDE and shared with The News disclosed on Thursday.
Regarding the expected layoffs by employment status by sectors across the provinces shows that except for Punjab, where the agriculture sector employs the majority of those in the labour force, all the other provinces are dominated by the services sector. Most layoffs in all the provinces, however, would be in the agriculture sector, followed by services sector. Consequently, the total layoffs across the provinces are the highest in the agriculture sector, it added.
It further stated that in all the provinces, the daily wage workers are most vulnerable and hence should be put on priority for any social protection interventions that are being designed at the federal and provincial levels. The services sector, which has the largest number of vulnerably employed, needs special attention. It is a trend found across all the provinces.
Hence, any relief package for the business sector to encourage them to retain their employees must take these factors into account. These packages should vary across the provinces to prioritize the most vulnerable sectors in the province accordingly.
The PIDE said Punjab has the highest total and vulnerable employment in absolute numbers. Being the most populated province, this is expected but PIDE is concerned about numbers, and not just proportions, here because any relief that is provided should be according to the number of those affected across the provinces.
Proportionally, Sindh has the least vulnerability across four sectors – agriculture, manufacturing, construction, and wholesale and retail sector. The vulnerability in hospitality, and transport and communication sectors is also lower in Sindh than in Punjab and KP. Overall, the Sindh province is relatively less vulnerable in terms of its share in employment. However, when it comes to the number of layoffs, the situation is not encouraging.
For instance, agriculture is the most vulnerable sector in the KP province, whereas the share of vulnerable employment in manufacturing and wholesale and retail sectors is the highest in Balochistan.
Likewise, the share of vulnerable employment in hospitality sector is the highest in the Punjab province. Interestingly, the construction sector has the least vulnerable employment among all the sectors in all the provinces. Moreover, the variation in vulnerability across provinces is also small for this sector. Manufacturing and transport and communication sectors have the largest variations in vulnerability across the provinces. Sindh, despite being the least susceptible province in terms of the share of vulnerable employment, will have more than four million people losing their jobs.
The absolute numbers, of course, are the highest for the most populated province of Punjab, with 13.5 million people projected to be laid-off. Protecting the affected households in these two provinces is therefore a difficult task and requires more focused interventions.
The majority of the layoffs across all the provinces would be of the daily-wage workers and workers paid by piece rate simply because they constitute the bigger proportion in these employment groups. The vulnerability in terms of employment status remains the same in the four provinces as was observed in the national level analysis, it concluded.
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https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/638709-punjab-may-lose-most-jobs-due-to-covid-19-experts
CrazyZ
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Google reports on mobility trend changes in Pakistan during coronavirus lockdown
Tech giant Google has released reports on social distancing and mobility pattern changes in Pakistan among other countries, as the world observed strict lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Google provided the reports to help give an idea of movement across countries amid lockdowns due to the pandemic.
The data is based on location history and might not hold for those who do not own a smartphone or didn't take it along during their trips outside home.
The search platform also cautioned that the data is not "intended to be used for guidance on personal travel plans” and should not be used for “medical diagnostic, prognostic and treatment purposes”.
Google said the data show trends over several weeks, with most recent data from two or three days ago.
“These reports show how visits and length of stay at different places change compared to a baseline. We calculate these changes using the same kind of aggregated and anonymised data used to show popular times for places in Google Maps,” it said.
The reports showed that there was a 70% drop in visits to retail and recreation spaces compared to normal periods. The category included mobility trends for places such as restuarants, cafes, shopping centres, theme parks, museums, libraries and cinemas.
Google said the data show trends over several weeks, with most recent data from two or three days ago.
“These reports show how visits and length of stay at different places change compared to a baseline. We calculate these changes using the same kind of aggregated and anonymised data used to show popular times for places in Google Maps,” it said.
The reports showed that there was a 70% drop in visits to retail and recreation spaces compared to normal periods. The category included mobility trends for places such as restuarants, cafes, shopping centres, theme parks, museums, libraries and cinemas.
There was a 55% drop in grocery and pharmacy shopping as well.
Mobility trends depicted a decrease of 45% in visits to national parks, beaches, plazas and public gardens.
The highest drop, 62%, was seen in public’s daily form of commuting, like public transport, bus and train station visits.
Workplaces meanwhile saw a decline of 41% in terms of visits by their workers.
On the downside, there was an 18% increase in visits to residential places, homes etc.
Pakistan
https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/6...anges-in-pakistan-during-coronavirus-lockdown
Tech giant Google has released reports on social distancing and mobility pattern changes in Pakistan among other countries, as the world observed strict lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Google provided the reports to help give an idea of movement across countries amid lockdowns due to the pandemic.
The data is based on location history and might not hold for those who do not own a smartphone or didn't take it along during their trips outside home.
The search platform also cautioned that the data is not "intended to be used for guidance on personal travel plans” and should not be used for “medical diagnostic, prognostic and treatment purposes”.
Google said the data show trends over several weeks, with most recent data from two or three days ago.
“These reports show how visits and length of stay at different places change compared to a baseline. We calculate these changes using the same kind of aggregated and anonymised data used to show popular times for places in Google Maps,” it said.
The reports showed that there was a 70% drop in visits to retail and recreation spaces compared to normal periods. The category included mobility trends for places such as restuarants, cafes, shopping centres, theme parks, museums, libraries and cinemas.
Google said the data show trends over several weeks, with most recent data from two or three days ago.
“These reports show how visits and length of stay at different places change compared to a baseline. We calculate these changes using the same kind of aggregated and anonymised data used to show popular times for places in Google Maps,” it said.
The reports showed that there was a 70% drop in visits to retail and recreation spaces compared to normal periods. The category included mobility trends for places such as restuarants, cafes, shopping centres, theme parks, museums, libraries and cinemas.
There was a 55% drop in grocery and pharmacy shopping as well.
Mobility trends depicted a decrease of 45% in visits to national parks, beaches, plazas and public gardens.
The highest drop, 62%, was seen in public’s daily form of commuting, like public transport, bus and train station visits.
Workplaces meanwhile saw a decline of 41% in terms of visits by their workers.
On the downside, there was an 18% increase in visits to residential places, homes etc.
Pakistan
https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/6...anges-in-pakistan-during-coronavirus-lockdown
JackTheRipper
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ghazi52
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ghazi52
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April 03, 2020
Besides general isolation facility, ICU is also available at the centre.
KARACHI: Sindh Governor Imran Ismail here on Thursday reviewed the necessary arrangements at the 1,200-bedded isolation centre established for coronavirus patients at Expo Centre Karachi.
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News anchor happens to be my cousin
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The broadcaster?
ghazi52
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Coronavirus may spread through normal breathing: US scientists
AFP
April 03, 2020
As it stands, the official advice is that only sick people need to cover their faces, as well as those caring for them at home. – Reuters/File Photo
The new coronavirus might spread through the air via normal breathing and speaking, a top United States scientist said Friday as the government was poised to recommend the use of face masks for everyone.
Anthony Fauci, head of infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health, told Fox News the guidance on masks would be changed "because of some recent information that the virus can actually be spread even when people just speak, as opposed to coughing and sneezing."
As it stands, the official advice is that only sick people need to cover their faces, as well as those caring for them at home.
Fauci's comments come after the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) sent a letter to the White House on April 1 that summarised recent research on the subject.
It said that though the research isn't yet conclusive, "the results of available studies are consistent with aerosolisation of virus from normal breathing."
Until now, US health agencies have said that the primary pathway of transmission is respiratory droplets, about one millimeter in diameter, expelled by sick people when they sneeze or cough.
These quickly fall to the ground around a meter away.
But if the virus can be suspended in the ultrafine mist we expel when we exhale, in other words an aerosol, it becomes much harder to prevent its spread, which in turn is an argument in favor of everyone covering their faces.
The aerosol debate
A recent NIH funded study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the SARS-CoV-2 virus could become an aerosol and remain airborne for up to three hours.
This triggered a debate even as critics said the findings were overblown because the team behind the study used a medical device called a nebuliser to deliberately create a viral mist and argued this would not occur naturally.
The NAS letter pointed to preliminary research by the University of Nebraska Medical Center that found the genetic code of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, its RNA, were found in hard to reach areas of patients' isolation rooms.
The NAS scientists also pointed to two other studies – both not yet peer reviewed – from Hong Kong and from mainland China.
The Hong Kong researchers collected viral samples from patients with the coronavirus and other viral respiratory illnesses, and gave some of the patients face masks.
The masks reduced the detection of both droplets and aerosols for coronavirus patients.
The Chinese paper on the other hand raised concerns that personal protective gear used by health care workers could itself be a source of airborne virus.
The team studied hospitals in Wuhan and found that there were two major areas where the virus was aerosolised: the bathrooms of patients, and rooms where medical staff removed their protective gear.
This may be because doffing protective gear causes the particles to get re-suspended in the air. Even if these particles are not of breathable size, they could settle on people's hands and bodies, the NAS panel said.
So far, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has been more cautious on the airborne threat.
In an analysis published on March 29, it wrote that aerosol transmission was only known to occur during particular medical treatments that required assisted breathing.
On the recent preliminary research, such as the University of Nebraska's paper, the WHO cautioned that the detection of the virus' genetic code in patient's rooms did not necessarily amount to viable amounts of the pathogen that could be transmitted onward.
AFP
April 03, 2020
As it stands, the official advice is that only sick people need to cover their faces, as well as those caring for them at home. – Reuters/File Photo
The new coronavirus might spread through the air via normal breathing and speaking, a top United States scientist said Friday as the government was poised to recommend the use of face masks for everyone.
Anthony Fauci, head of infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health, told Fox News the guidance on masks would be changed "because of some recent information that the virus can actually be spread even when people just speak, as opposed to coughing and sneezing."
As it stands, the official advice is that only sick people need to cover their faces, as well as those caring for them at home.
Fauci's comments come after the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) sent a letter to the White House on April 1 that summarised recent research on the subject.
It said that though the research isn't yet conclusive, "the results of available studies are consistent with aerosolisation of virus from normal breathing."
Until now, US health agencies have said that the primary pathway of transmission is respiratory droplets, about one millimeter in diameter, expelled by sick people when they sneeze or cough.
These quickly fall to the ground around a meter away.
But if the virus can be suspended in the ultrafine mist we expel when we exhale, in other words an aerosol, it becomes much harder to prevent its spread, which in turn is an argument in favor of everyone covering their faces.
The aerosol debate
A recent NIH funded study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the SARS-CoV-2 virus could become an aerosol and remain airborne for up to three hours.
This triggered a debate even as critics said the findings were overblown because the team behind the study used a medical device called a nebuliser to deliberately create a viral mist and argued this would not occur naturally.
The NAS letter pointed to preliminary research by the University of Nebraska Medical Center that found the genetic code of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, its RNA, were found in hard to reach areas of patients' isolation rooms.
The NAS scientists also pointed to two other studies – both not yet peer reviewed – from Hong Kong and from mainland China.
The Hong Kong researchers collected viral samples from patients with the coronavirus and other viral respiratory illnesses, and gave some of the patients face masks.
The masks reduced the detection of both droplets and aerosols for coronavirus patients.
The Chinese paper on the other hand raised concerns that personal protective gear used by health care workers could itself be a source of airborne virus.
The team studied hospitals in Wuhan and found that there were two major areas where the virus was aerosolised: the bathrooms of patients, and rooms where medical staff removed their protective gear.
This may be because doffing protective gear causes the particles to get re-suspended in the air. Even if these particles are not of breathable size, they could settle on people's hands and bodies, the NAS panel said.
So far, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has been more cautious on the airborne threat.
In an analysis published on March 29, it wrote that aerosol transmission was only known to occur during particular medical treatments that required assisted breathing.
On the recent preliminary research, such as the University of Nebraska's paper, the WHO cautioned that the detection of the virus' genetic code in patient's rooms did not necessarily amount to viable amounts of the pathogen that could be transmitted onward.
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